Kitsap Sun, 25 January 1999, 505 words, English
By Gina Stafford, Scripps Howard News Service
"Strength training increases bone density, and most older people have bone density low enough to place them at risk of injury.
Women, who tend to lose bone density naturally, can fight the process with strength training.
In fact, if you're already into athletic endeavors, focus on upper-body strength training, and you'll notice a performance boost ""in any sport,"" according to fitness specialist Jeni Brewer of Blount Memorial Wellness Center in Alcoa.
Running figures prominently in Brewer's own fitness regimen. She trained for a marathon she ran in Detroit.
""Upper-body strength helps stabilize the body, helps with economy of movement, with everything,"" Brewer said. ""The stronger your upper body is, the less effort you'll waste at the end of a race, for example.
""You can tell when you see someone without a lot of upper-body strength at the end of a race because they'll be using a lot of wasted motion since they don't have the strength to keep stable.""
As for the bone-density connection to strength training, Brewer describes it this way: Weight lifting tears muscle tissue. Muscle responds by building more tissue. Bone mineral content responds to that by increasing as part of a hormonal function.
""Your bones want to be able to adapt and want to be able to handle the stress of the overload you're putting on the muscle, and they will adapt,"" Brewer said.
Women may continue to add bone density up to about age 24. After that, the benefit of strength training is in maintaining bone density until menopause. At that time, women's bone density tends to decrease naturally, Brewer said.
""Strengthening your body can mean changing your body composition,"" she said.
As body fat decreases and muscle increases, metabolism will increase because muscle tissue at rest metabolizes at five times the rate of fat tissue.
""That helps maintain weight, which is a good idea in fighting breast cancer. For women, breast cancer is another disease at increased risk with obesity. Keeping your body fat percentage low is going to help with that."
Get a handle on upper-body toning by getting to know the upper-body muscle groups. Biceps and triceps are pretty familiar to most. But did you know that biceps are so-named because the muscle attaches to bone in two places? Or that triceps attach in three? Those facts make it important to exercise biceps and triceps in different ways, at different angles, to work all the ""heads,"" Brewer said.
Keep repetitions high and weight low for toning. High weight and low reps build bulk.
Mixing up the muscle workout means faster results, she added. And don't forget to stretch.
""You should warm up five minutes before stretching, because stretching cold muscles increases the risk of injury,"" Brewer said. ""You're stretching for increased range of motion, and increased range of motion means the more you can lift.""
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Copyright 1999 Scripps Howard Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.